


Battle Me

by TsingaDark



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Pokemon - Freeform, Pokemon GO - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 04:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7786369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsingaDark/pseuds/TsingaDark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing Phil wants is to finally start working on his essay but then he catches one of the guys at the next table staring at the stickers on his laptop and he immediately forgets his essay because, holy shit, that guy is cute.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Battle Me

**Author's Note:**

> Massive thanks to my beta [cloudyrica](https://cloudyrica.tumblr.com/)!! 
> 
> Also, without my best friend this story wouldn't exist because she told me about this guy staring at her laptop stickers while she was sitting in a café working on a term paper.  
> And somehow that evolved into a story about Pokémon Go because I live in the middle of nowhere and therefore can't play since there are no Pokémon here :(
> 
> I wrote this before the new Pokémon Go video so obviously I just guessed what teams they would choose.
> 
> (apparently uni AUs are the only thing I can write these days...)

Phil groans and pulls at his hair as he stares at a blank word document that’s open on his laptop in front of him. There’s a steaming hot cup of coffee next to him and his hands are already lying on the keyboard, ready to start typing his essay. The problem is that the words just won’t come and despite the textbooks next to him with over a dozen marked pages, he doesn’t know what to write. It’s frustrating to say the least.

He’s been wanting to start working on this particular essay for about a week now but no matter where he was, what time it was or what mindset he’s been in, he couldn’t for the life of him make it work. His last resort had been coming to a coffee shop, hopeful that the chatter and constant buzz around him would be better than the deafening silence in the library. As it turns out, it doesn’t really make a difference. 

He sighs and takes his hands off the keyboard, reaching for the mug instead. The least he can do is enjoy this amazing coffee that’s way better than the instant one he always has at home. It’s not often that he grants himself the opportunity to get a proper coffee, mostly because he’s broke as fuck but also because the important thing is the caffeine and he can easily get that in the comfort of his home.

Setting the mug back down on the wooden table, he notices three guys sitting at the table in front of his. His gaze is immediately drawn to the tallest of them, his chocolate coloured hair styled similarly to Phil’s but with the fringe the other way and complementary to his brown eyes that are looking in Phil’s direction. 

At first, Phil blushes because he’s fairly positive he just caught the guy staring at him but then he realises that he isn’t looking at Phil but at his laptop. Phil furrows his brows, not quite understanding why he’d be interested in looking at his shitty Macbook that doesn’t even work half of the time. 

He tries to subtly peek over his laptop to see what the guy’s looking at but it doesn’t quite work the way he imagined and instead of getting closer to knowing the reason why this random guy is staring at his laptop, he just manages to make him notice that Phil’s caught him staring. This results in the guy blushing furiously, which Phil thinks is quite cute, and him averting his gaze. Phil seizes the opportunity to have a look at his laptop cover. 

Oh, yeah. He’d totally forgotten about the stickers.

Considering that not only the front but also the spaces next to his keyboard are covered in stickers of varying sizes and images, most of them displaying cats, it is quite a feat that he forgot about them. He figures it’s only normal, though, since he sees them everyday and has gotten so used to them that he doesn’t even notice them anymore. 

When Phil looks up again, his essay completely forgotten, he finds that the guy is already staring in his direction again. This time his gaze isn’t drawn by the stickers, no, he’s looking directly at Phil and Phil feels his cheeks heat. He isn’t used to attention like this, especially not from someone he deems cute. 

The man next to the cute guy, who has short curly hair and green eyes that sparkle mischievously, suddenly says something and the cute guy diverts his attention away from Phil. A few seconds later, however, his gaze is back on Phil and his face reveals that he’s kind of annoyed but that look quickly changes into determination and before Phil realises what’s happening, the guy gets up and walks towards Phil.

Phil instantly freezes. He doubts the guy’s going to beat him up for staring at him, considering he was the one who started it, but he can’t help but feel intimidated by this tall guy in black skinny jeans and an even blacker t-shirt, even though Phil’s not even remotely small himself.

Oh God, Phil only wanted to write his essay in peace not get beaten up by a cute guy because of the stickers on his laptop. What even is his life?

“Hey,” the guy says and Phil can only stare at him because, holy fudge, he looks even cuter up close.

“Um.” The guy fidgets with his fringe, shifting from one foot to the other. His entire body language basically screams  _ uncomfortable _ .

“Oh,” Phil says, realising that he should probably stop being creepy and blink once in a while. He’s been told a lot that he makes people uncomfortable by not blinking while he’s looking at them. “Hey.” 

The guy looks back to his friends and Phil sees them give him the thumbs up from the corner of his eyes and he can’t help but chuckle. 

“Can I sit?”

“Sure,” Phil replies and closes his laptop properly so that it’s not in the way.

“I’m Dan, by the way,” the guy says when he’s sat down, smiling shyly at Phil.

“Phil.” 

“Nice to meet you, Phil,” Dan says, laying particular emphasis on his name. He smiles and a dimple appears on his right cheek. It’s probably the most adorable thing Phil has ever seen. Apart from the red panda at the zoo last week but he’s not going to start comparing Dan to a panda.

“So you like pokémon?” Dan asks, pointing at the Pikachu sticker on Phil’s laptop.

“Yes,” Phil says happily, a smile appearing on his lips. “What about you?”

Dan only chuckles, digging his phone out of his jeans pockets and moving his thumb swiftly across the screen. Phil tries to sneak a peek at his phone to see what Dan wants to show him but Dan moves to the side to keep Phil from ruining the surprise.

After a few seconds he grins triumphantly and sticks the phone in Phil’s face, so close that Phil needs to lean back a little to see the screen clearly. When his eyes focus, he sucks in a surprised breath.

“No way,” he says and, because he still can’t quite believe it, grabs Dan’s hand with the phone so that he can look at it again properly without Dan shaking his hand about. Dan just laughs at Phil’s reaction, the dimple on his other cheek showing.

“That’s... How did you catch a Pikachu?” Phil asks incredulously, not able to tear his gaze away from the screen of Dan’s phone where the open Pokémon Go app shows the yellow Pokémon.

Dan shrugs nonchalantly but Phil can see from the slight pink tint of his cheeks that he’s actually quite proud of his achievement. 

“You just need to be persistent,” he says and grins. 

Phil finally lets go of Dan’s hand, who slides his phone back into his pocket.

“And have knack for coming up with weird names, apparently,” Phil says, cocking an eyebrow, because  _ peekatyou _ , really?

Dan blushes at that. “Don’t tell me you haven’t given your Pokémon nicknames,” he defends himself.

And well, Phil can’t deny that. He named his first Pokémon Bob and another one Zackbat so he can’t really judge Dan. 

“I think they’re all fitting names,” Phil says and crosses his arms in front of his chest. 

Dan just raises an eyebrow. “Sure,” he replies but thankfully drops the topic. 

“Anyway,” Phil says, looking over Dan’s shoulder to the other two guys still sat at the table, presumably his friends. As soon as they see Phil looking they pretend they hadn’t been intently listening in on their conversation.  “Did you come here only to talk about Pokémon or did you want something?” 

“Um,” Dan says and starts fidgeting with his hair again. He avoids looking at Phil and nibbles on his lower lip to the point where it starts to bleed. “I, um.” He shortly looks back at his friends, who don’t even bother pretending anymore that they’re not listening. Dan leans forward, presumably so his friends won’t hear what he’s going to say.

“Well, I saw the stickers on your Macbook and I couldn’t help but notice that you seem to like the same things that I like,” Dan says, stumbling over his words.

“You like Zayn?” Phil asks dumbly because, well, he didn’t really expect this.

“Yeah.” Dan smiles nervously. “And, um, PJ told me that if I wouldn’t go over and introduce myself to you, he’d do it for me, and yeah, I wanted to avoid that,” Dan adds quickly, the words almost getting squashed into one. 

So that was why Dan had looked so annoyed earlier before coming over. Phil couldn’t help but smile. 

Dan starts bouncing his knee and in turn makes the whole table wobble. “Um, yeah,” he says, when Phil doesn’t answer, looking completely lost.

Phil doesn’t feel much better. Does Dan want him to give him his number? Does he just want to have a nice chat and then leave? Either way, Phil thinks Dan is actually quite nice and especially cute when he smiles and he most certainly doesn’t want him to just walk away after their conversation.

“Which team are you?” Phil asks. 

“What?” Dan looks even more confused. 

“On Pokémon Go, which team did you chose?” Phil clarifies and Dan looks at him even more strangely.

“Um,” he says and fidgets with his hair again. “Team Valor, why?”

Phil just grins at him and proceeds to open his notebook, which he normally uses in class to take notes, writing down his phone number and ripping the page out. 

“Is this your way of seeing if we’re compatible?” Dan jokes as Phil presses the piece of paper into his hand. 

“No,” Phil answers, shaking his head. “This is my way of asking you out on a date.” He starts packing up his things, shoving his laptop as well as the textbooks back into his bag. When he lifts his gaze again, he sees that Dan’s staring at his phone number, still looking as confused as he had a moment ago.

“I’m team Instinct,” Phil says and raises an eyebrow. 

Understanding dawns on Dan’s face. “Oh, are you the guy that’s in possession of the local gym?” he asks incredulously and with a tiny amount of awe in his voice.

“That I am,” Phil replies, grinning and feeling very proud of himself. “You can try and beat me tomorrow, if you want.”

“It’s a date,” Dan says and grins as well. Phil is sure he’s feeling pretty smug and confident he’ll win the gym for his team but Phil knows he won’t. He’s been able to defend the gym for weeks now and Dan certainly won’t change that. 

“See you tomorrow then.” With those words Phil gets up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking past Dan and then his friends on his way to the exit. He turns around and looks back just before he’s exiting the shop and sees that Dan has got up as well and is watching him, a smile on his lips.

On his way home Phil resists the urge to get his phone out and open up Pokémon Go so he can maybe catch a few more Pokémon before tomorrow. He knows he certainly doesn’t need more but proving to Dan that he is a pro at the game feels very important all of a sudden. Even though he is a bit disappointed that him and Dan won’t be able to defend the gym since they’re not in the same team, he is overjoyed that the app exists at all. 

Before Pokémon Go came out, Phil had been excited for weeks. He used to play the blue edition on his old Gameboy and he’s never quite forgotten his love for the game. But never had he thought that he would someday meet a cute guy through Pokémon and actually go on a date whilst playing it. Even though their date will entail battling for possession of the gym, it will also consist of them showing their Pokémon to the other and talking about their favourite Pokémon, and Phil has never been more glad that he litters all available surfaces with stickers of the things he likes because otherwise him and Dan wouldn’t have met. 


End file.
